New Delhi / Washington: A day after India summoned a US diplomat and objected to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s comments on his arrest, the United States reiterated its call for “fair, transparent, timely legal processes”. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also said he was aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities had frozen some of their bank accounts.
Miller said, “We are closely following these actions, including the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. We encourage fair, transparent, and timely legal processes for each of these issues.”
Miller was responding to a question during a State Department briefing about India summoning acting deputy chief of mission in Delhi, Gloria Barbena, as well as freezing Congress’s bank accounts.
Miller said “We are also aware of Congress’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of his bank accounts in a way that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. And we will be impartial on each of these issues.” ,Encourage transparent and timely legal processes.
When Miller was asked about India summoning the US diplomat, he declined to comment, citing “private diplomatic conversations”. Miller said “I’m not going to talk about any private diplomatic conversations. But certainly, what we’ve said publicly is the same thing I’ve said here, that we will have fair, transparent and timely legal processes.” Encourage. We don’t think anyone should have any objection to this.
New Delhi had earlier lodged a strong protest over Washington’s “close monitoring” comment on Kejriwal’s arrest. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had summoned the acting deputy chief of mission, Gloria Barbena, to its office in South Block, Delhi. The meeting lasted for more than 30 minutes.
The State Department later said in a statement, “We strongly object to the comments of the US State Department spokesperson regarding certain legal proceedings in India.” The statement said, “In diplomacy, states are required to respect the sovereignty and Internal affairs are expected to be respected. This responsibility is even greater in the case of fellow democracies. Otherwise it could set an unhealthy precedent.”
India’s legal processes are “based on an independent judiciary that is committed to objective and timely results,” the Ministry of External Affairs said, underscoring that “it was inappropriate to cast aspersions on it”.
India on Saturday (March 23) summoned the deputy chief of the German mission in Delhi and lodged a strong protest over that country’s Foreign Ministry’s remarks on Kejriwal’s arrest. The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Kejriwal in a money laundering case related to the now defunct liquor policy case.
